


Comfort in the arms of love

by meshtams



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Harry Potter, Bottom Draco Malfoy, Desi Harry Potter, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gay Draco Malfoy, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Insecurity, Light Smut, M/M, Mentions of past self harm, POC Harry Potter, Scars, Tall Draco Malfoy, Tattooed Draco Malfoy, This is literal garbage, Top Harry Potter, draco is like an indie bitch who listens to sufjan and fleet foxes and shit, i absolutely imagined them both as virgins but it isnt specified ok, mostly fluff with some awkward gay smut written by an incredibly uncomfortable lesbian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25475527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meshtams/pseuds/meshtams
Summary: harry has a panic attack, draco looks after him, they admit feelings and then they are just cuties yeah yeah
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 173





	Comfort in the arms of love

Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were Eighth-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They had spent the first six years of their acquaintance as bitter rivals, antagonising one another at every chance they got, and their seventh year was…... well, they were at war. Draco had been stuck at Hogwarts, torturing the younger students and carrying out menial tasks assigned to him as a low-level, young death eater, whilst Harry, along with his two best friends, was on the run, searching for horcruxes and living in a tent. 

After the war ended, the boys had decided to put their petty rivalry behind them, and had discovered that, in fact, they worked incredibly well together and got along better than anyone could have expected, except for maybe Dumbledore. In the three months since the beginning of their eighth-year, the boys had grown rather close, as not only were they paired up in all of their shared classes (Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology and Defence, to be specific- Draco was in every single one of Harry’s classes, plus took Arithmancy and Ancient Runes as well), since Harry’s best friends Hermione and Ron had (FINALLY) gotten together and therefore liked to spend time together without Harry, and Draco’s best friend Pansy had gotten a girlfriend and therefore spent large amounts of time hiding out in the Hufflepuff dorms doing things that Draco decidedly didn’t want to know about, they had started spending much of their free time together as well, working on projects or talking or just laying around in one another’s company.

This is why it was entirely expected when Friday night found Harry sitting at Draco’s desk in the Slytherin dorms, working on their Potions essay and generally bugging Draco with far too many questions. Draco couldn’t say he minded though; Harry was woefully lacking in potions knowledge, and Draco was a far better teacher to him than Snape or Slughorn had ever been, plus he couldn’t help but find it adorable when Harry would dramatically lean back, one hand on his forehead, and proclaim something along the lines of “Draco, I’m dying, I can’t take any more of this!” which is what he said this time, verbatim, but unfortunately his hand caught Draco’s inkwell and flung it onto the stone floor, ink staining the desktop and floor as the glass pot itself cracked. As soon as Harry realized what had happened, his breath caught and his eyes filled with tears. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’ll- I’ll replace it and clean it up right now, I’m so sorry…” Harry’s voice shook as he scrubbed at the ink pooled on the desk with the hem of his far too large blue t-shirt.

“Harry? It’s fine, what’s wrong?” Draco’s grey eyes were filled with concern.

“I’m so sorry, I’ll fix it, I’m sorry.” He repeated, his eyes damp and panicked as he looked at Draco, still scrubbing at the mess. 

“Harry!” Draco reached towards Harry, sitting up on his bed, but dropped his arm when Harry flinched violently, clearly expecting to be hit. “Harry, it’s okay, I won’t touch you. I don’t mind about the ink, you can stop scrubbing at it, I’ll clean it up with my wand, don’t worry.” His voice was soft and reassuring, but loud enough for Harry to hear over the apologies he was still mumbling. “You don’t need to replace it, I have plenty, I always keep extras because Greg spills his all the time, I promise I’m not upset.” 

Harry stopped mumbling and looked up at Draco, his eyes watery and tears caught on his black lashes. “You’re not upset?” His voice was smaller than Draco had ever heard from the usually loud, brash Gryffindor. 

“Of course not.” Draco lifted his arm slowly, and moved towards Harry. “Can I touch you?” At the shorter boy’s small nod, Draco reached out and touched Harry’s hand lightly before using it to pull him towards him. As he wrapped his arms around him, he felt Harry melt against him and cry quietly against his shoulder, and he couldn’t even think about being upset with the noiret for making a mess of his shirt, instead just holding him tighter. 

Once Harry calmed down, Draco asked him “What was that all about?” Immediately, Harry flushed bright red and tried to pull away from the thin arms holding him tight, but Draco just continued to hold him. “You don’t have to tell me, but if you want to then I would like to know.” At Harry’s suspicious look he added “I won’t hold it against you, or tell anyone, I promise.” 

“Okay.” Harry’s voice was slightly stronger now, but he was still audibly nervous, and he rearranged himself until he was sat against Draco’s headboard, Draco’s right arm still around his shoulders while his left rested in his lap so he could use his fingers to trace over the flower tattoos (narcissus, anemone, tulips and statice, to be specific) Draco had gotten around his forearm, surrounding the ugly black mark. “You know the Dursley’s?” Draco nodded a little. “Well, when I was younger… if I broke anything or made a mess or whatever, it was really, really bad. Uncle Vernon would smack me about a bit and I’d get locked in my cupboard for a few days with no food, and it’s not like I got much food in the first place.” Harry didn’t look up at Draco, so he couldn’t see the horrified anger etched on the blond’s face. 

“Your cupboard? What do you mean?” His voice was thick with trepidation as he already knew he wouldn’t like the answer. He had already figured out that Harry’s homelife probably wasn’t the best, but already it seemed it was worse than he had thought- he had assumed that Harry probably just didn’t get along with his family. 

“Until my Hogwarts letter came, my bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs. My first Hogwarts letter was actually addressed to ‘Mr H Potter, The Cupboard Under The Stairs’, if you can believe that.” He laughed mirthlessly. “’Course, once they saw that I got moved into Dudley’s second bedroom-”

“Wait, second bedroom? Your cousin had two bedrooms and you lived in a cupboard?” Draco honestly couldn’t understand this. His homelife certainly wasn’t ideal, what with a death eater father and a home that had housed Voldemort until a few months previous, but he had never been deprived of anything and the idea that someone had treated Harry, kind, wonderful Harry of all people like this was baffling. He reached his right hand up and started carding his pale fingers through Harry’s black curls, relishing in the way his pale skin looked against both Harry’s pitch-black hair and his warm brown skin.

“Yeah, they had a guest room too, but they hated me.” Harry leaned into Draco’s hand but still didn’t look up from where his fingers trailed over the swooping black lines on his skin. 

“Why did they hate you?” Draco was bewildered at how someone could genuinely hate someone like Harry, even if he’d done a good job at pretending to for seven years. 

“They hate magic, and they knew that I was a wizard, not that they told me that. Plus, they are racist as hell and hated that my mum was not only a witch but had married a man who wasn’t even white. I don’t know which bit they hated more, to be perfectly honest. They’re really shitty people, but growing up I didn’t even realize that for a long time. They always said that it was my fault for messing up or that I didn’t need as much food or space as Dudley, or that I didn’t deserve to eat because I was a freak and I just believed that for years. So, sometimes I break things or whatever and I half expect to get screamed at and smacked about, even though I know that it won’t happen.”

When Harry finished speaking, his eyes were damp again, but he wasn’t the only one. “I am so sorry that that happened to you.” Draco’s usually even voice was choked up and he wrapped his arms back around Harry properly, burying his angular face into his neck. Harry found himself holding Draco back this time, his strong arms settled around the blond’s narrow waist as he leaned his head back onto the pillow. It wasn’t long before both boys fell asleep, wound around one another. 

When Draco next opened his eyes, he was acutely aware of the solid thigh pressed between his much wirier ones, and the strong chest pushed up against him. He felt as if he had awoken into a fantasy as he saw the messy black curls spread out across his pillow, framing the handsome face of Harry Potter. He smiled lightly and ran his hands through Harry’s thick hair before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to the sleeping boy’s forehead, but as he moved back, thinking he had gotten away with expressing such tenderness without being caught out, emerald eyes blinked up at him sleepily. 

When Harry opened his mouth, Draco had expected to be questioned as to why he had kissed Harry’s forehead, or maybe cussed out for doing it without Harry’s consent, and unthinkingly closed his eyes. What he didn’t expect was for Harry’s groggy, low voice to say “I’m sorry for being such a burden last night.”

At this, Draco’s eyes shot open, shocked. “Harry. Listen to me.” Harry nodded nervously. “You are not a burden. You are never a burden on me, and I am glad you felt comfortable enough to share with me what you did.”

Harry’s eyes flickered down to Draco’s lips, and before he even fully thought about it, he leaned in and kissed him. Draco froze, shocked. Harry was kissing him. Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding world, the boy who Draco had had feelings for since they met, was kissing him. It took him a moment to process what was happening, but before he could respond, Harry was already pulling away. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry, I’m an idiot, I made you uncomfortable, its just- I’ve wanted to do that for so long, but you- I’m so sorry, I’ll leave.” He detangled himself from Draco and was half way off the bed when Draco grabbed his arm and pulled him down on top of him, pressing his lips firmly to Harry’s and wrapping his arms around his neck. Harry kissed back softly, before pulling away again, but this time only moving back far enough to meet Draco’s eyes. “I don’t understand.” 

“Harry, when you kissed me, I was just surprised. I’ve had a crush on you since we met, and I realized I was in love with you in third year. I just wasn’t expecting you to kiss me.” Draco’s eyes were like molten silver, his pupils wide, and his lips were curled into a self-conscious smile. 

“Oh.” Harry seemed confused. “I… I didn’t realize I was in love with you until sixth year, but I’ve definitely liked you for a lot longer, I just didn’t even realize I liked guys until then.” He laughed a little, nervous and still slightly breathless from being so close to- no, ON TOP OF- Draco. 

Draco laughed at that. “I can believe that.” His voice was closer to its usual drawl now, but the effect was ruined by his soft smile and the fact that his eyes were still locked on Harry’s lips. “You love me too?” He asked, only just realizing what Harry had confessed. 

“Yes.” Harry grinned. 

“Then kiss me again.” His voice was breathy and soft, and as Harry pressed his lips to Draco’s, he could feel them curl into a smile before pressing back, kissing Harry deeply and arching his back to press his whole body against Harry’s. 

When Draco’s alarm went off at 7:30AM, the boys groaned, having only fallen back to sleep four hours previous. 

“Urgh. I need a shower.” Draco ran his fingers through his hair, well aware that his usually pristine hair would be sticking up all over the place- he had bedhead that could rival Harry’s, the difference being that he actually tidied it before going out in public. 

“Mind if I join?” Harry’s voice was still rough with sleep, but he wore a cheeky smile. 

Draco thought for a second. On one hand, he knew Harry was joking, but on the other, the opportunity to shower with his boyfriend was too irresistible to pass up. “If you like.” He smirked, standing up and stretching before moving towards the showers. 

Harry practically scrambled out of bed, eyes wide. “Really?” 

“Sure.” Draco said, barely turning around. 

When he got into the bathroom, he stripped off his clothing and dropped it into the laundry basket beside his favourite shower, before turning the shower on and making sure it was at the perfect temperature. His housemates knew not to use that shower, so he always left his shampoo, conditioner and cleansers in there ready for him. He could hear Harry divesting himself of clothes outside of the stall and smiled. Harry slipped into the shower behind him and he could hear his breath catch as Draco leaned, smirking, to wet his hair under the spray and push his arse out lightly towards Harry. He turned around in one fluid motion to see Harry, nude, eyes blown wide with lust, but was confused when Harry’s gaze dropped to his chest and his face instantly clouded with guilt. He cast his own eyes down and realized what Harry was staring at- a lattice of knotted scars across most of his torso. At least he didn’t seem to have noticed the ones on his thighs yet. 

“Ugly, aren’t they?” He smiled awkwardly. 

“Are they- did I…?” 

“Uhm, yes.” Draco crossed his arms over his chest. 

Harry’s eyes welled with tears again. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what the spell would do, I didn’t mean to-”

“Harry, its okay. I don’t blame you. I was going to crucio you, its fine.” He reached out for Harry and grabbed his shoulder lightly, tilting up his chin to look him in the eyes with his other hand. “I know it was a mistake, Sev told me, I forgave you pretty much immediately. They’re ugly, but its honestly okay. I promise. I love you.” 

“How can…. How can you love me when I did THAT?” Harry was crying silently. 

“I told you, I forgave you. It was a shitty mistake, but its okay.”

“I just…. I love you, I’m so sorry.” 

“Its fine, Harry. Its okay.” Draco leaned down and kissed Harry chastely, but it soon heated up- this was much closer to what he’d had in mind at the idea of showering with Harry. Both of them naked, water pounding down on them, locked in a passionate kiss. 

“How about I make it up to you?” Harry pulled away from the kiss and smirked devilishly, his eyes alight with mischief.

“What do you m-” his thought was cut off with a moan as Harry dropped to his knees and took him into his mouth. “Holy shit, Harry!”

Harry hummed around him and ran his hands up his thighs, but pulled back as he felt the scars up and down them. He hadn’t noticed them before as they were just white lines that almost blended in to Draco’s fair skin, but as close as he was, he could definitely see them now. “What are..?” 

“Shit, uh, don’t worry about them.” Draco’s face was red. He had really hoped that Harry wouldn’t notice them, at least until after he’d finished sucking him off. 

“Who did them?” Harry ran his fingers over them lightly.

“Me. Sixth and seventh year… weren’t exactly the best, yeah? It’s okay now, though.” He was embarrassed that he had to admit this to Harry, but he also knew that Harry wouldn’t judge him for his stupid mistakes, unlike Blaise had when he’d walked in on Draco changing during seventh year. 

Harry leant in and pressed a gentle kiss to the skin of Draco’s thigh. “I love you. You’re okay now, yeah?” 

“Ye-yeah.” He swallowed. Harry’s face was still so close to his crotch that it was hard to even think properly. 

“Okay.” He hummed and leaned back in, taking Draco back into his mouth and bobbing his head. He brushed his fingers back until they could rub against Draco’s rim, and the blond gasped. Harry looked up, clearly asking if this was okay with his eyes, and Draco nodded enthusiastically, his head dropping back as Harry performed a wandless spell to slick his fingers and pushed one into him. His breath was caught in a groan as Harry continued to both suck him and fuck him with his fingers, his other had in his own lap. 

After their shower, Draco dressed in muggle clothes (black skinny jeans, a fleet foxes t-shirt and his Dr Martens), as was his standard these days, and he found some clothes for Harry to borrow: a pair of black jeans which were a little loose on Draco so should fit Harry, even if they would be too long, and a Sufjan Stevens t-shirt that Draco had accidentally bought in a medium instead of a small. Even with the jeans turned up a quite ridiculous amount and paired with Harry’s scruffy white trainers, the outfit looked much better than the tent-like rags he usually wore, and Draco had no qualms about telling him as much as they made their way out of the dorm, hand in hand.

“Darling, you look so good. Even my clothes look better than what you usually wear.” He laughed lightly.

“Yeah, all my clothes are Dudley or Uncle Vernon’s cast-offs.” He grimaced. 

“That makes sense. I have to go to muggle London today anyway, how about you come with me and we get you some real clothes?” He smirked at his boyfriend. 

“Urgh. I don’t know how to shop for clothes.”

“Luckily for you, I do, so what do you think? We could go have breakfast and then go. I have to go to Gringotts first to get more muggle money, but then we could go shopping, and there’s a nice café I know where we could get lunch if you like.”

“Uh, sure, yeah, I’d like that. Why do you need to go to muggle London, anyway?” 

“I’m getting a new tattoo at 4.”

“Oh! What are you getting?” Harry had never even been to a tattoo shop before, muggle or magical.

“I’m getting a dragon on my other forearm. I’ve been quite looking forward to it, actually.”

“That’s awesome. I love your tattoos.” Harry grinned as they left the common room, but frowned as Draco went to pull his hand away. “Oh. Do you not want people to know you’re my boyfriend?” 

“What? No! I mean, fuck!” Draco hadn’t expected Harry to take the gesture like that. “No, of course I want people to know that we’re together, I just assumed you wouldn’t.” His voice was small.

“Why would you think that?” Harry was genuinely confused and upset as he stopped and turned to face Draco properly. 

“Because, well, you’re, you know, YOU, and I’m just… me. You know, pointy death eater Malfoy.” He tried to make a joke out of it, referring to himself as pointy in reference to how Ron always called him ‘pointy git’ or ‘ferret’, but it fell flat. 

“Draco. I love you. You’re not a death eater anymore, and you were a shit one to begin with, and… well, you are a bit pointy, but you’re gorgeous. You’re not ‘just’ anything, you’re handsome and smart and literally the most interesting person I know, I LOVE you, and I want people to know that you’re mine, I don’t really care what they have to say about it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Draco was flushed.

“You don’t need to be sorry, love.” Harry leaned up and kissed Draco gently. “Let’s go get breakfast.” He took the blond’s hand again and headed up towards the great hall. “Will you sit at Gryffindor with me?” 

“Uhm, sure, yeah, I can do that.” Draco bit his lip nervously. Since becoming friends with Harry, he hadn’t yet had the guts to sit with the Gryffindors; he had apologised to most of them about the way he had treated them over the years, but he knew that they all still despised him. He hoped that Luna was sitting with her girlfriend today; the Weaslette may still hate him, but his cousin had been one of his best friends since the war ended. 

“Are you sure?” Harry asked earnestly, noticing how anxious Draco looked. 

“Yeah, yeah, I can do that.” He nodded, more to himself than to Harry. 

“Alright then.” They were right outside the hall now, and Harry was surprised that they hadn’t run into anyone in the halls until he realized that they were somewhat late for breakfast after their shower, so everyone else was probably already settled and eating. 

Harry gave him a soft peck on the lips before pulling him through the doors and down towards there Ron and Hermione were sat half way down the Gryffindor table, across from Finnegan and Thomas. All eyes were on them as they walked up the hall, and Draco knew that his face had never been redder than it was in that moment. That is, until Ron started cheering, shouting “It’s about time, mates!” and the rest of the hall seemed to join in. Draco, panicked and seemingly doing his best to turn into a tomato, looked up towards the teachers’ table, only to see that half of them including Headmistress McGonagall were cheering as well. Harry was laughing and pulling Draco along with him, and as soon as they reached their seats Draco flopped down and buried his head in the shoulder of his laughing boyfriend, trying his best to disappear. 

“Oh, so THAT’s where you were last night!” Finnegan jeered at Harry, who’s cheeks reddened. 

“Yup. Now please shut up because you’re embarrassing my boyfriend.” Harry grinned. 

“Oh my god. This is even worse than I expected.” Draco groaned into Harry’s shoulder, and then jumped as he felt a hand on his back. He looked up to see Luna behind him. 

“I’m glad you two have sorted out your feelings. The wrackspurts aren’t nearly as dense around your ears now.” She smiled in her usual half-dazed way.

“As usual, Lu, I have no idea what you’re going on about, but thank you.” He grinned at her as she sat down beside him. 

“I think you should call your dragon Harry, later. That would be lovely.” She turned away. She had designed the tattoo he was getting, along with the flowers on his arm, and he flushed, but smiled to himself. He knew that was her decidedly odd way of encouraging their relationship.


End file.
